Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus rex (ty-ran-o-saw-us rex; name meaning "Tyrant Lizard King"), or commonly abbreviated to T. rex for short, was a species of large predatory theropod coelurosaurian dinosaur that lived in during the Middle to Late Cretaceous Period in North America up until the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Among the last of the dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex is also among the most well-known and most feared predator ever to live on Planet Earth. Additionally, it was the largest predatory dinosaur: it measured 15 meters long at maximum, stood 6 meters tall, and weighed more than 7+ tonnes. Tooth sizes ranged from 15 cm in any given individual, with the smallest 2 cm teeth performing their role, and the largest 17 cm teeth interestingly acting as a battery of sabre teeth - many pairs mind putting Sabre Toothed Cats to shame. They are serrated on the edges, and designed for crushing bone. Bone is found in fossil coprolites from Tyrannosaurus, as fragments. It is the most famous and popular of all prehistoric creatures, known for its cultural impact, even much more so than Smilodon, Apatosaurus, and even the Woolly Mammoth. It is also called the King of the Dinosaurs. T.rex is among the largest land predators ever, larger and heavier than the theropod Giganotosaurus of South America. Tyrannosaurus rex was the top predator of North America in the last days of the dinosaurs, preying on animals like Ornithomimus, Ankylosaurus, Torosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Triceratops, and Edmontosaurus. It was also the largest of the tyrannosaurs, a family which also included Albertosaurus and Tarbosaurus. Facts Time/Era/Period Tyrannosaurus rex first appeared in North America during the Middle Cretaceous Period around 90 million years ago and lived up until the very end of the Late Cretaceous Period 65 million years ago, ruling planet Earth for 25 million years as the apex predator of the world. It died out with all the other dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures at the end of the Cretaceous Period and lived alongside dinosaurs and other creatures like Albertosaurus, Ornithomimus, Dromaeosaurus, Troodon, Deinosuchus, Quetzalcoatlus, Pteranodon, Nyctosaurus, Didelphodon, Dinilysia, Edmontosaurus, Triceratops, Parasaurolophus, Torosaurus, Ankylosaurus, and Parksosaurus. It was among the last dinosaurs to exist prior to the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event. Since its first discovery in 1902, more than 30 specimens of T.rex have been identified, some nearly complete, which has allowed significant research into many aspects of its biology, including its life history and biomechanics. Size/Description Tyrannosaurus rex was the largest member of the tyrannosaur family and therefore was also among the largest, if not, the largest terrestrial carnivorous dinosaur of all time, giving it the nickname "The King of the Dinosaurs". They were very large and heavy predatory dinosaurs that weighed in at up to a staggering 7.5+ tons (15,000+ lbs), grew up to stand 20 feet (6.1 m) tall, and reached a staggering measurement of 50 feet (15.3 m) in length, larger than the length a double-Decker bus. Tyrannosaurus rex was the dinosaurs' most infamous and ultimate predator that appeared in the last 25,000,000 years of the Cretaceous Period. They were giant carnivorous dinosaurs that stalked the landscape and, being the most notorious flesh-eaters ever known, they were specifically and perfectly evolved to kill and eat even other giant dinosaurs, even ones larger than T. rex itself. Despite their heavy-weight, T. rex were relatively fast dinosaurs, reaching speeds as fast as over 25 to 45 mph if they needed to. The primary weapon of a Tyrannosaurus was their mouth. Their arms were rather small so they could carry a massive jaw and remain balanced on their legs. Tyrannosaurus's massive skull was balanced by a long, heavy tail. T. rex had massive mussels in their jaws that gave them a bite force that was 10 times more powerful than that of a lion's bite force. The heavily reinforced skull of T. rex suggests that it was a devastating predator with bone crushing bite strength. These jaws could crush bone and tear off up to 70 kilograms of meat in a single bite. The jaws were armed with 150 mm long, serrated, bone-crushing teeth. T. rex also had a superb sense of smell. Relative to the large and powerful hind limbs, like all members of the tyrannosaur family, Tyrannosaurus' forelimbs were small and retained only two digits. Recent specimens have shown the tiny arms to have been well-muscled, presumably to enable the animal to anchor itself to the ground as it attempted to straighten its hind legs and stand up from a prone position. Behavior Like many predatory dinosaurs, even ones of their immense size, Tyrannosaurus rex lived, hunted, and traveled in packs, from pairs to a small group of more than half a dozen individuals, including juveniles and even hatchlings. In a home of T. rex, there were bones of various dead animals scattered all over. Like modern birds and lions, T. rex brought food back to their territory and the juveniles often fought over scraps of food. In packs, there would be both males and females. In the fossil record, T. rex skeletons have been found together and that's a clue that they associated. They were a real mob, like a gang looking for trouble. They really interacted and they even hunt in packs of at least up to numbers of five. But like all reptiles, T. rex were at times cannibalistic, eating not only their own kind but hatchlings as well, given the chance. Tyrannosaurus had enormous territories of hundreds of square kilometers. When it came to mating, male Tyrannosaurus brought down herbivorous dinosaurs, large and small, old and young. But it was not only to satisfy the male's hunger, but it was additionally a gift to the larger and more aggressive female Tyrannosaurus. The males need to court the females with food to prevent the females attacking the males on sight. And when the females arrived to those males, they did seem weary at first. But, eventually, if impressed, they would be submissive to the male. When females had laid their eggs, they could camouflage their nests in forests as they keep watch for two full months. And for the duration of the eggs' incubation, female Tyrannosaurus would not leave their station to drink or even eat, as they knew their nests would act as magnets to scavengers, like small mammals and smaller predatory dinosaurs such as Dromaeosaurus and ''Ornithomimus''. Female Tyrannosaurus could have a clutch of at least up to 12 eggs, but normally only got one to three chicks at most and rarely more than that, mostly because other eggs are taken by scavengers. In addition, these predatory dinosaurs were so special that they could penetrate an Akylosaurus's defenses. But as powerful and as terrifying as these monstrous predatory dinosaurs were, Tyrannosaurus rex did show parental care for their young, Tyrannosaurus Chicks. Whenever female Tyrannosaurus had babies, they would go out to get a kill and after they ate, they brought back scraps of their food, such as a single Ornithomimus or even pieces of an Edmontosaurus, to their babies because the babies needed food, much like modern birds do today. Female T. rex were fiercely protective of their young, and whenever their young were in danger, they weren't very happy. Female Tyrannosaurus were highly protective of their offspring. They would protect their babies from scavengers, a lone Ankylosaurus, and even another T. rex, especially if it was a male. And the more an adult T. rex protected its offspring, the better chances those offspring had at survival. Journal Entry Gallery imagesCAGYGDTD.jpg imagesCAWXNI8T.jpg imagesCAR40TG1.jpg WWD_T-Rex.jpg Tyrannosaurus_Attack.png Tyrannosaurus_eating.png imagesCAAZUG2I.jpg Tyranno.png imagesCA2Q65W7.jpg 1000px-T-rex_on_rock.jpg imagesCAA6JPEM.jpg imagesCA4YKUC6.jpg _42796495_trex_bbc203.jpg images (2).jpg Tyrannosaurus-1.png WalkingWithDinosaurs-23.jpg wwd1.jpg WalkingWithDinosaurs-34.jpg WalkingWithDinosaurs-35.jpg images (3).jpg Category:Prehistoric Animals Category:Dinosaurs Category:Reptiles Category:Tyrannosaurs Category:Cretaceous Dinosaurs Category:Cretaceous Wildlife Category:Predators Category:Largest Carnivorous Dinosaurs Category:Most Famous Prehistoric Creatures Category:Creature of Interest